Manchester United vs Hull City Preview | Team News, Stats & Key Men

On February first, Manchester United will face off against Hull City for the second time in a week.  After advancing to the Capital One Cup final at the KC Stadium last week, despite losing 2-1 on the day, Manchester United will welcome Hull to Old Trafford on Wednesday.

United had a good last week with an aggregate victory over Hull City to send them to the final of the Capital One Cup and a 4-0 win over Wigan Athletic to send them into the fifth round of the FA Cup.  However, after back to back 1-1 draws in the league, United need to pick up their league form quickly before they fall out of the race for the top four.  A match at home against the team in 19th place seems like the perfect opportunity for them to get a big win.

Hull City have showed some signs of life under new manager Marco Silva.  Since Silva came in, Hull have won three of their six matches in all competitions after winning only seven of their 24 matches under Mike Phelan.  While their 2-1 win over Manchester United was a mere consolation after they went out on aggregate, they still put in a good performance and were the better team on the night.  It’ll be hard for them to replicate that performance at Old Trafford, but there does seem to be some hope with Marco Silva in charge.

Team News

Jose Mourinho has a full squad to pick from as there are no injuries to any senior players, according to Physioroom.com.

Hull on the other hand have plenty of players out through injury.  Ryan Mason, Curtis Davies, Will Keane, Alex Bruce, Moses Odubajo, Greg Luer, and Markus Henriksen are all out with injuries and will all be kept out past next weekends fixtures, according to Physioroom.com.

Key Players

Manchester United: Henrikh Mkhitaryan

After a slow start to his Manchester United career Henrikh Mkhitaryan is finally kicking into gear at Old Trafford.  He has started all of United’s last five Premier League matches and has been putting in the kind of performances that people expected of him when he was bought over in the summer.  While it is a small sample size, Mkhitaryan has 2.65 key passes per 90 minutes, more than any other Manchester United player, according to Squawka.com.  He has also chipped in with some goals.  He’s shown some variety in his goal scoring, including his scorpion kick against Sunderland on Boxing Day, to his goal on Sunday where he found himself on the end of a brilliant team goal.

Hull City: Oumar Niasse

January has been a busy month for Hull and has seen plenty of players moving in and out of the club.  One of the players that moved in was Oumar Niasse.  They secured Niasse on loan from Everton and he has shown a few signs of promise.  The Senegalese international didn’t get a lot of playing time at Everton, so he has been eased into playing regularly for Hull.  He did get his first start against Manchester United on Thursday and looked good.  He got off four shots, three of which found the target, and one of which found the back of the net.  Hull don’t have a lot of talent in their squad, but Niasse could turn out to be something good and a player that helps save them from relegation.

Prediction

Manchester United should win this one easily.  Even with the improvement under Silva, Hull aren’t very good and United really should brush them aside at home.

Prediction: 4-1 Manchester United